Hey John - what do you know about the latest rumours that Roar are being bailed out again by the FFA!!? Seems amazing given we must have pocketed around $2.5-$3M in transfers for the guys to Utrecht, Reinaldo and De vere?

I can only make assumptions at this stage. Mike Cockerel was getting pretty close to the money after the World Cup in saying that he told Frank Lowey that Frank would need to bankroll the A-League. The talk now is of the season starting later. However, the danger is that the AFL and NRL pre-season news buries the most important part of the A-League season for fans - the finishing spots and the finals. We are seeing this right now.

Up here you can feel the local press is already pushing the AFL and NRL stories. And Craig Foster managed to give them ammunition by claiming that the roar were not supporting his clinic enough (an own goal on the match day v Heart).

The Roar seem to be getting more coverage outside Brisbane. Somehow the FFA need to address this.

I think the FFA were hoping against hope that the Socceroos would get a pay day from the Asia Cup to allow re-financing.

Instead, Asian Cup success and the heightened role of A-League and given that Asian teams can carry an extra foreign player if they are from the Australian confederation - and Australia has both the cheapest and potentially the best players in Asia, we can expect more players to leave.

Reinaldo was a free transfer.

Zullo, Oat and Sartora's move to Utrecht paid for last year's losses. That money is gone.

I haven't seen any promotion for the Gold Coast return to Suncorp - the game we get the trophy. Even the the trophy transfer is in doubt is technically CCM can still win.